Historical Records: State Library of Tennessee Partners With Ancestry.com, Database Includes Millions of Images and Names

The State Library and Archives is commencing the relationship by sharing Tennessee death records from 1908 through 1959 with Ancestry.com and its users. This database includes 1.2 million digital images and indexes 3.4 million names that appear in those records.

The records are available free to Tennesseans by visiting the Tennessee Electronic Library (TEL) main web page at http://tntel.tnsos.org/, then clicking on the “genealogy” tab and then the “Tennessee Death Records” tab.

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In addition to being able to research their own family histories, researchers can also use the records to learn about notable Tennessee figures such as Scopes Monkey Trial lawyer and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, former governor Austin Peay, Grand Ole Opry star Uncle Dave Macon and Gladys Presley, the mother of Elvis Presley – all of whose death certificates are part of this online collection.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.